Without Naruto
by NarutoHatake-Uchiha
Summary: What if Naruto was never born? Who would be the new hero of the story? Who would be the Leafs protector? The answer...a moody avenger! Come on even I have trouble believing that. Watch as Sasuke battles his inner demons and pedo snakes among other things to become a hero. It's the Naruto story like you've never seen it before (I think). Note, story more serious than summary.


**A/N: PLEASE READ, okay my 3rd attempt at writing a story (the first two never made it to the site) and I am not sure I have seen anything like it from the stories I have read. So here's the background, Naruto was never born yet the Kyuubi still escaped….somehow. Minato and Kushina still died resealing it into each other and the Uchiha massacre still occurred. Sasuke now becomes the protagonist of the story meaning his character might have to change as he develops to become the hero and he will be slightly OOC from the start but not by much. Note two things: first off I don't really like Sasuke all that much, so this isn't coming from a biased source and secondly there will be no OC in the story playing a replacement Naruto type roll. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**Chapter 1**

_Darkness, it was all around him, encompassing him, suffocating him. He couldn't breathe; he couldn't see but he could feel. Yes he could defiantly feel; pain, sorrow, anguish, running through him without respite. The only break from the darkness were the flashing images of his parents and relatives but they were not there to take away the pain, no, they were there to compound it._

_"Why couldn't you save us." They cried out in unison. An eternal never ending cry gnawing at his sanity._

_Then suddenly another person appeared and those emotions were gone replaced with new ones: anger, hate but predominantly fear, gut-wrenching fear. He could only see the outline of this person but he did have one clear feature, blood red whirling eyes. The figure decided to answer the cries of the others in a clear, emotionless voice._

_"Because he is weak."_

Sasuke awoke in a cold sweat, his ragged breathing made evident by the fact that he was panting. He looked over at his alarm clock, 7:30 it was time to get up and go to the academy today he would be placed into a team and given a jonin-sensei. Sasuke had been having that same nightmare on and off for the last 6 years ever since the massacre (a/n: all rookies 13 team Guy 14) and some people wondered why he was so moody and broody. But Sasuke wasn't thinking about that at the moment, his thought process was solely focused on achieving his goal.

_'Today I become one step closer to you, Itachi.' _The last word was filled with hatred and spite to level no 13 year old should be able to manage.

Sasuke finished getting ready dressed in his usual garb which consisted of a navy blue high collared shirt with the Uchiha clan symbol proudly displayed on its back; white arm warmers; white shorts; white taping that started with a blue band near his ankles and ended with an identical band just below the knee; along with blue ninja sandals and to complete the look his newly acquired Konoha headband secured around is forehead leaving two medium length black blue bangs to frame his face (part 1 clothing, duh).

Arriving at the classroom he ignored the people present and went straight to his usual seat near the window and assumed his usual brooding/thinking position with his two hands intertwined resting around his mouth.

_'I wonder who I'll get on my team, hn no doubt whoever it is all they will do is slow me down. No, the important thing will be who my jonin-sensei is, the stronger they are the more they can teach me and the faster I can get to **him.' **_Sasuke's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of two girls shouting

"I was here first pig." Yelled a pink haired girl.

"Not a chance forehead." Came the equally load response from a blond haired girl next to her as they both struggled to fit in the door.

These two were Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka and they were the leaders of Sasuke's very own fan club and because of this they were Sasuke's least two favourite people in the world. Ok that's probably an exaggeration but with the two of them now, after making it passed the door fighting over who has the 'privilege' to sit next to him he couldn't help his thoughts go dark.

'_Where's Itachi's genjutsu when you need it.' _He deadpanned while watching the scene 's right, the great Sasuke Uchiha did have a sense of humour he just had more important things to be doing in his time besides making jokes and laughing, namely getting stronger.

Luckily for him before they could try and speak to him Iruka came in and told the class to settle down. Sasuke liked Iruka he was tough but fair and he didn't lick his ass like all the other teachers whose behaviour Sasuke believed to be pathetic. Iruka went on to congratulate the class among other things and began to name out the teams. Sasuke zoned out until he heard his name called.

"Team 7 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Kiba Inuzuka and Sakura Haruno your jonin-sensei will be Kakashi Hatake." This announcement was met with two opposite reactions. Sakura jumped up declaring among other things her joy after being placed in the same team as her crush, whereas Sasuke could be seen banging his head off the table repeatedly.

Iruka sweat dropped at his two student's reactions before carrying on with the team placing's "Team 8 will be Shino Aburame, Hinata Hyuga and Generic genin #27. Your jonin-sensei will be Kurenai Yuhi. Team 9 is still in circulation. Team 10 will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi. Your jonin-sensei will be Asuma Sarutobi. Once again I wish you good luck in your ninja careers, do your village proud." With that he exited the classroom and the young teens were left to wait for their senseis.

Three hours later and the classroom was empty bar the three very pissed off members of team 7.

"Gah, I can't take it anymore were the hell is this asshole." Kiba shouted out. He had enough of being patient, it's not something he did well anyway.

"Quiet Kiba I am sure he has a perfectly good reason for being late." Sakura hadn't minded the wait for the first hour because it allowed her to talk to Sasuke but after getting ignored time and time again she was running out of patience as well and although she wasn't showing it on the outside, Inner Sakura was raging.

**_'When this guy gets here I'll give him a piece of my mind SHANNARO.'_**

Sasuke himself was getting frustrated with situation_ 'What kind of shinobi comes three hours late to a meeting.'_

Just as you could see the beginnings of steam blowing out of their ears the door opened and a man with gravity defying silver hair, with the majority of his face covered by a mask and a tilted headband covering his left eye poked his head in.

"Hmmm…how do I put this? My first impression of you…I hate you. Meet me up on the roof in 10 minutes." And with a poof of smoke he was gone leaving behind three teenagers with severely twitching eyes.

All three genin made it up to the roof and sat down on the steps waiting for their new sensei to speak.

"All right why don't we all get to know each other better by introducing ourselves." Kakashi started while putting away his book.

Sakura being the bright spark that she is decided to speak up. "What should we say." She questioned.

"Things you like, things you hate, dreams, hobbies, that sort of thing." Kakashi replied.

"Well why don't you show us how it's done." Kiba asked with a bark in agreement from Akamaru.

"Okay that's fair…my name is Kakashi Hatake; I have likes and dislikes; I also have hobbies; as for dreams hmm…never really thought about it. Now you go pinkie." All three teens sweat dropped at his introduction.

Sasuke zoning out his teammates introductions decided to examine their sensei for the first time. _'He comes across lazy and apathetic but there is an aura of confidence and power that he just seems to exude. No doubt this is a jonin and a powerful one at that. Hn good he will be able to teach me lots in order to get stronger.'_ Sasuke was broken from his thoughts by his sensei telling him it was his turn. The last loyal Uchiha smirked just slightly before starting.

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha; I don't feel like telling you my likes, hates or hobbies. One thing I will tell you is my goal: I need to get stronger in order to kill a certain somebody."

There many different reactions to Sasuke's introduction: Sakura was drooling over how cool he was; Kiba was hoping he didn't mean him and Kakashi was thinking to himself whilst eye smiling.

_'That's hardly surprising although somewhat worrying, at least he has a sense of humour…I think.' _When looking at his whole team Kakashi felt reasonably pleased although they were definitely going to be a lot of work.

"Alright tomorrow we will have our first mission, a survival exercise." Kakashi addressed his team after coming out of his thoughts. Two of the genin were visibly shocked by this announcement while the third just looked focused. Sakura decided to speak up on behalf of her team.

"But sensei we just did that stuff in the academy that's what the graduation test was for" she said while receiving a nod in agreement from Kiba.

"No that was just to see who had the potential to be genin, the exercise I will give you tomorrow will determine if you become genin or not. Out of your graduating class of 27 only 9 will become genin." Kakashi explained while taking a slight perverse enjoyment out of the looks on his three student's faces. "We will meet at training ground 7 at 6:30 tomorrow morning…oh and don't eat breakfast you'll just end up throwing it up." And with another poof of smoke he was gone again leaving 3 stunned genin behind.

Kiba surprisingly was the first to react "Gah this sucks, stupid one-eyed bastard and stupid tests. C'mon Akamaru were going home to train." And with that he left leaving Sakura alone with her crush, something Inner Sakura wasted no time in pointing out.

**_'This is our chance to make him ours, go get him SHANNARO!'_**

Sakura walked up to Sasuke with confidence having been reassured by her inner self. Confidence that was abruptly taken away by Sasuke before she could even open her mouth.

"No Sakura." Sasuke said while turning around to face her. "I already know what you're going to say and the answers no, you should follow the mutts example and prepare for tomorrow because kami knows you need to." With that he walked past her and down the stairs leaving the roof top and leaving behind a tearful Sakura.

Contrary to popular belief Sasuke didn't enjoy being that big a dick but he felt the girl needed a serious wakeup call before it's too late and she ends up dead before she even gets to adulthood. _'Hopefully she will change for the better, I don't need anyone dying because of some obsession they have over me and I certainly don't need a deadweight on my team holding me back from achieving my goal.' _Okay so maybe he is a bit of dick but still he doesn't enjoy it…much.

Sasuke woke up the next morning excited and pensive. Excited that he gets to showcase and test his skill, pensive because he didn't know what the survival test entailed. After getting ready and eating a small breakfast (as if he was going to give his sensei anymore advantages) he set out for training ground 7. He arrived at the same time as his teammates with both of them looking like they weren't used to being up this early.

They stood, well he stood while the other two sat waiting for their sensei for three hours before Kakashi finally showed. He was greeted by Kiba and Sakura screaming out he was late to which he replied "Sorry a black cat crossed my path…."

Seeing the unamused glares of his team Kakashi decided to get down to business and took out two bells.

"Okay the object of the exercise is take these bells off of me, if you don't get a bell you don't get any lunch." He said while holding said bells in front of the three genin.

Kiba's and Sakura's stomachs growled at this while both of them realised the real reason why he told them not to eat breakfast. Sasuke just smirked.

Kakashi noticing his reaction to teammate's plight spoke up. "It seems somebody didn't follow my advice." Both Sakura and Kiba looked over at Sasuke, one with worry the other with anger.

Sasuke just scoffed at his teammates while looking at his sensei. "Hn, as if I'd give you any more of an advantage."

Sakura spotting something decided to speak up. "Sensei there are only two bells."

Kakashi gave his usual eye smile before replying. "Ah yes, this guarantees one of you will definitely fail and end up tied to the stump over there while your teammates and I eat our lunch in front of you. Also those who fail will be sent back to the academy." At this Sakura looked nervous, Kiba looked angry and Sasuke looked focused.

"Come at me with intent to kill are else you will never get a bell." Sakura now looked even more nervous.

"But Sensei you could get hurt." She replied

"Sakura I'm a jonin for a reason." He chuckled back

"Alright when I say begin we start…begin." And with that all three genin jumped away.

Kakashi stayed in the middle of field whilst reading his book but kept a close eye on his surroundings. _'The first job of a ninja is to hide their presence, well at least they know that…'_

"Hey scarecrow time to give me those bells." Kiba brazenly called out interrupting Kakashi from his thoughts.

"Mah mah Kiba, the loud ones are always the first to die." Kakashi replied off-handily while never taking his eyes of his book.

Kiba angered by his sensei's response decided to charge him and take advantage of his lack of focus. He started off by throwing a couple of shuriken at him, which were easily dodged. Then whilst Kiba engaged in a taijutsu battle with his sensei Akamaru went for the bells. Well that was the plan anyway, the end result was Akamaru got punted into a tree and Kakashi after blocking a few strikes from Kiba got behind him.

"Never let your opponent get behind you Kiba." Kakashi said from a crouched stance behind Kiba who by this stage was sweating bullets. Kakashi then formed the tiger seal, shocking the two hidden genin who thought he was going to use a fire jutsu up close against Kiba.

"…Now pay the price, Leaf Village secret-finger jutsu 1000 Years of Death." And with that Kakashi took his fingers which were still in the tiger seal and shoved them up Kiba's ass. The two other genin sweat dropped as Kiba went flying into the same tree as Akamaru.

_'There both idiots. Hn, still though Kakashi never let his guard down even though he was going up against someone like Kiba.' _Sasuke thought all the while looking for an opening to attack.

Sakura after seeing that display from her sensei rushed off in search of Sasuke. (A/n: we all know how that ends, if you don't watch the episode of Naruto).

Sasuke hearing the screams of Sakura dashed towards the sound. When he got there he saw a passed out Sakura and he sensed his sensei behind him.

"Hn, a genjutsu, I won't fall for the same tricks as the other two did I am not like them." Sasuke said turning around to see his sensei leaning against a tree reading his book.

"Say that after you get a bell, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi replied teasingly whilst moving himself off the tree and walking towards Sasuke.

After a few seconds of staring each other down Sasuke started off by throwing some shuriken at his sensei.

"Those types of attacks won't work Sasuke." Kakashi stated dodging the shuriken and putting away his book.

He was forced to eat his words as Sasuke just smirked and threw a kunai at some rope setting of a trap which Kakashi had to be quick to dodge. Suddenly Sasuke appeared behind his sensei and launched a strong kick to his head, which Kakashi caught. He followed that up with a punch which was also caught, using Kakashi's grip on his two limbs to his advantage he turned upside down and brought his other leg down upon Kakashi who was forced to block with his two occupied hands.

Kakashi had to react quickly again as Sasuke used his position to his benefit and used his free hand to swipe at the bells just touching one _'that kid…'_ before Kakashi pushed him away. _'…he's fierce, I guess I'll have to finish Icha Icha paradise later.' _Kakashi thought, impressed by the skill of the young Uchiha.

Sasuke on the other hand was annoyed _'I was so close, now with the element of surprise gone I'm definitely at a disadvantage. I guess I will just have to take it up a notch.' _Sasuke flew through a couple of hand signs finishing on tiger and inhaled before calling out

**_'Fire style: Fireball Jutsu.'_**

_'Wait he shouldn't be able to use a fire jutsu it takes more chakra then any genin should have.' _Kakashi said to himself disbelievingly. But despite his thoughts Sasuke shot out a decent sized fireball at his sensei. When he finished the technique Kakashi was nowhere to be seen.

_ 'Shit where is he, not behind and not above, then where.' _Sasuke thought while frantically looking around for his sensei.

The answer came when is foot was caught by a hand beneath him pulling him into the ground and his sensei declaring "Where you least expect me."

Soon the only part of Sasuke's body above ground was his head as he tried to escape the confines of his earthen prison.

"Can't escape can you, shinobi battle tactic 3: ninjutsu, **_Earth style: Head-hunter jutsu_**. You have talent and you're certainly different from the others but different does not always mean better. They say that the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down." And with that Kakashi left taking back out his book and strolling away leaving Sasuke to stew over his failure.

_'Damn it, I was so close to getting one of those bells and now I'm stuck in the ground. I knew the gap between me and jonin class ninja would be big but he barely broke a sweat against me and Kakashi is probably weaker than** him.**'_

At this moment a newly awakened Sakura was greeted with the site of her crushes head and nothing else.

"Sakura could you help me out here." Sasuke asked.

Sakura after what she had seen in the genjutsu and now to have it followed up by this screamed and passed out again. Sasuke could only sweat drop at her reaction.

Sakura awoke again this time to find Sasuke looking down on her. She was so relieved that he was okay she jumped up and hugged him, something Sasuke didn't appreciate.

"Get off me would you." Sasuke ordered clearly annoyed.

"Oh, sorry Sasuke-kun." She responded clearly flushed.

"Hn, I have to go I still need to get a bell and times running out." Sasuke said turning around to leave.

"Sasuke-kun you're still trying to get one of those bells." Sakura asked

"I touched one earlier next time I'll take one." He said confidently, a lot more confidently then he was actually feeling.

"Oh, you touched one that's great…." Sakura started but Inner Sakura was not happy. **_'He actually touched one now I will never get one and me and Sasuke-kun will be separated and our love will have no chance to blossom.' _**"…but it's getting late maybe we should give up and try again next year."

Those comments stopped Sasuke in his tracks as he sent an icy glare back at Sakura and then did something very un-Sasuke like he sighed.

"That is the difference between me and you Sakura I can't act like a kid and wait for second chances, I need this training to gain strength. The path I walk is one were failure is not an option, I must kill him it is my sole reason for existing."

Sakura shocked at Sasuke's words immediately thought back to the introductions they gave and just when she was about to ask him what or who he was talking about the bell rang signalling the end of the exercise.

Sasuke was even more annoyed by this "Damn it I wasted too much time here." and with that they made their way back to the three stumps.

Sasuke and Sakura were each sitting by a stump with Kiba tied to the middle one with Kakashi looking down on them (a/n: Kiba fought Kakashi again got knocked out again and got tied to the post before the others came back)

"I am not going to send any of you back to the academy." Kakashi started. The tree genin of course were happy but somewhat surprised none more so than Sakura

_'But I just passed out a couple of times, is that what I was supposed to do.'_ Inner Sakura on the other hand was far less concerned by these minor details **_'True love prevails SHANNARO!'_**

But before they could celebrate too much Kakashi spoke up again "That is because none of you are fit to be shinobi in my eyes." after this announcement Kiba and Sakura looked shocked and Sasuke looked angry, really angry. His hand reached for his kunai pouch as he thought about charging his sensei but thought better of it when he remembered how quickly Kakashi dealt with him last time.

"You failed the test as you did not see the point of this exercise, teamwork. Why do you think you're put on three man squads, it's so you can work together to achieve the goal. If you came at me altogether then maybe you could have taken a bell." Kakashi continued

"But sensei there were only two bells if we worked together one of us still would have failed." Sakura pointed out.

"Yes Sakura again that was the point to see if you could put the mission before yourself something you all failed to do. Sakura you were so obsessed about Sasuke that you completely ignored Kiba when he was down and possibly hurt. Kiba you do everything on your own. And Sasuke you thought your teammates were so far below you that they would just be a burden, arrogance! You see the stone over there, inscribed on it are the names of all the heroes who have given their lives for the village. And do you want why there are so many names on it because people got arrogant or didn't work together." All three genin looked pretty disgusted with themselves, even Sasuke.

"I'll give you another chance after lunch but this time it will be even harder. Sasuke and Sakura you can eat lunch but whatever you do don't feed Kiba, these are my rules follow them got it." And with that last threat Kakashi left.

As Sasuke and Sakura were eating there lunches Kiba's stomach started to growl, Sasuke noticing this offered Kiba his meal. "Here take it."

Sakura was shocked that Sasuke was ignoring there sensei's instructions "Sasuke-kun what are you doing sensei told us not to."

"Its fine he's gone and I had a breakfast anyway unlike you two plus if Kiba doesn't eat he'll be weak and that will hurt the team making it harder to complete the mission." Sasuke responded.

Sakura seeing the logic of Sasuke's statement offered some of her food to Kiba as well. Then out of nowhere Kakashi appeared

"You dare disobey my orders." His voice boomed as the sky blackened.

Sasuke was the first to answer "There are three of us, we are a squad so we are in it together isn't that what you said."

Sakura backed Sasuke up "Yeah we need Kiba at his strongest so we can complete the mission."

Finally Kiba added his two pence "Yeah, they gave me their lunches 'cause the three of us are one."

Kakashi moved towards them his voice not losing its threatening tone "So your excuse is that the three of you are one." The three genin nodded

"Well then…you PASS!" Kakashi stated his voice losing all its malice.

All three teens looked stunned, with Sakura being the first one to speak up

"But sensei…how?"

"Every time I give this test the students always follow exactly what I say, they are incapable of thinking for themselves and because of this they fall for every one of my traps. In the ninja world those who break the rules are scum this is true but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum." Kakashi finished sagely.

Sakura had a smile as big as her forehead; Kiba was near tears at his sensei's emotional words while Akamaru was barking happily and wagging his tail even Sasuke allowed himself a smirk.

"Team 7 will start missions tomorrow, now let's go home it's been a long day." And with that the newly formed team 7 left the training ground minus Kiba who was still tied to the stump with Akamaru trying his best to bite off the rope.

**A/N: Few, finally done the first chapter hopefully it didn't suck too much. As or if I continue the story I hope to focus more on Sasuke then I did in this chapter but I guess those opportunities will present themselves as I go along. Also about the jutsu names being in English I know some of the purists won't be happy and I watch the subbed myself but doing the jutsu in Japanese is way to troublesome. So I hope you enjoyed it I know it's a bit different (at least I think it is) but I think people will start to like my leading man Sasuke if you give him some time.**


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